Neurogenomics

HEAD: Giuseppe Testa

The Neurogenomics Research Centre will investigate the mechanisms of human neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases, ranging from neurodevelopmental to neurodegenerative disorders, combining basic and translational research through different experimental systems and computational approaches (from brain organoids to animal models to epidemiological cohorts) to probe the structure, function and development of the nervous system at multiple scales of resolution.

Centre members

Research groups

  • Davila-Velderrain Group

    Research in the Davila-Velderrain Group combines theoretical and computational tools with single-cell genomic measurements to characterize and study the cellular complexity of the brain and its vulnerabilities. We aim to contribute to our understanding of how brain cells acquire functional identities during development; and why, despite evolved robustness and plasticity, cell circuit functionality becomes impaired in […]

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  • Harschnitz Group

    Neuroimmunological disorders, such as viral and autoimmune encephalitis, are potentially fatal if untreated and can result in severe neurological deficits in patients who survive. Past human studies of neuroimmunological disease have relied heavily on autopsy or biopsy materials, and the lack of routine access to primary human central nervous system cell types has precluded most mechanistic studies. The […]

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  • Genetic manipulation in the ferret brain (age: postnatal day 16). Neural stem cells in the left hemisphere were electroporated in vivo 24 days earlier. GFP+ neurons (green) have their cell bodies in the electroporated hemisphere and extend their processes to the contra-lateral hemisphere. Magenta, GFAP (glial cell marker); blue, DAPI (nuclei). Credit: Kalebic et al., eLife 2018;7: e41241.

    Kalebic Group

    The research of the Kalebic Group focuses on the molecular and cell biological mechanisms underlying human neocortex development and its implications for human evolution and neurodevelopmental disorders.

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  • Taverna Group

    The neurons forming our brain are produced from neural stem cells during embryonic development. Stem cells and neurons must be produced at the right time, place and sequence for the brain to achieve its correct size and architecture. This spatio-temporal coordination is of particular interest when placed into clinical context, as changes in the composition, size and […]

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  • Cortical brain organoids showing the ventricular-like organization of differentiating neuronal progenitors stained with antibodies against the transcription factor Pax6 (nuclear signal in red), the filament protein Nestin (cytoskeletal signal in green) and DAPI (nuclear signal in blue). Credit: Giuseppe Testa

    Testa Group

    The Testa Group harnesses the unprecedented potential of cell reprogramming to study the molecular basis of human neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases (NPD), by chasing the dynamics of their unfolding in physio pathologically relevant models and straddling multiple scales of analysis from single cell resolution to organismal function.

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